One of the things I love about playing online is that I can grab maps from online and take advantage of others' great artwork. I'm a big fan of Dyson Logos, for example.
But maybe you've had this problem. You've just found a great map that fits your purpose, and you place your encounter(s) in the relevant rooms. Except . . . there's still a half-dozen rooms left, snaking all over the map. You have no idea what to even do with them, and you don't want to have this huge dungeon that is 75% empty rooms.
Throw in some rooms with minions or hangers on, little guys the head of the dungeon uses for errands. Pets, which can be anything from wolves to rust monsters to an ooze. Other rooms can be repurposed as things like a temple/shrine, barracks, kitchen, library, combat training, depending on who/what is in there. General storage is fun, cause the PCs will think it’s surely a treasure room if they look hard enough, while it actually only a bunch of turnips and blank paper. None of them need to have anyone in there, but it gives a lot of flavor. Think in terms of what kinds of things the dungeon boss would want in his house.
So rooms you don’t intend for combat or treasure should serve to advance the plot or worldbuilding of the dungeon. Do you know the story of how this villain ended up here? It may be fun to tell that story through area searches. Maybe the bandit captain moved into the area from Neverwinter. So they have a storage area in the dungeon with crates of wine from a neverwinter vineyard, and they have their old Neverwinter guard uniform boxed up. Odd finds so near the Moon sea. Unless you know that this guy used to be a guard in Neverwinter before he went criminal and left to improve his criminal standing. Finds in other areas could be sketches of Neverwinter landmarks. A letter from his old captain promising a promotion if he’d reconsider his resignation. Maybe this villain really likes cats, so there’s a cat room just totally decorated with cat stuff. The players might clue into a strategy in which they bribe him or distract him with a cat when they find him. Give them something to reward them for paying attention.
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What was it originally built for; what was its purpose?
Why was it abandoned/re-purposed?
What is it currently being used for?
What did the transition from #1 to #3 look like?
What notable events happened here since #2?
In short, make up a little story about the Dungeon, understand the what, why, when, and how of the dungeon's evolution, and you'll have no problems filling in rooms.
It's a little trickier, because you didn't make the basic layout, but it can be done. You said "rooms", so I'm guessing this is a constructed place?
This might not be applicable in natural caves, although then you can still ask yourself: what kind of creatures would shelter here? How do they interact? What is their ecology? What events happened in this cave complex's history? That will get you similar results.
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If you aren't able to stock all the rooms up with goodies, traps, monsters, ect. ect., might be good to make a random 1d100 encounter table filled with stuff that's relevant to the dungeon's purpose, resources, and most importantly, vibe.
One of the things I love about playing online is that I can grab maps from online and take advantage of others' great artwork. I'm a big fan of Dyson Logos, for example.
But maybe you've had this problem. You've just found a great map that fits your purpose, and you place your encounter(s) in the relevant rooms. Except . . . there's still a half-dozen rooms left, snaking all over the map. You have no idea what to even do with them, and you don't want to have this huge dungeon that is 75% empty rooms.
So . . . how do you fill out those spaces?
There's nothing wrong with some empty rooms, but you can always remove those rooms from the map.
Throw in some rooms with minions or hangers on, little guys the head of the dungeon uses for errands. Pets, which can be anything from wolves to rust monsters to an ooze.
Other rooms can be repurposed as things like a temple/shrine, barracks, kitchen, library, combat training, depending on who/what is in there. General storage is fun, cause the PCs will think it’s surely a treasure room if they look hard enough, while it actually only a bunch of turnips and blank paper. None of them need to have anyone in there, but it gives a lot of flavor.
Think in terms of what kinds of things the dungeon boss would want in his house.
So rooms you don’t intend for combat or treasure should serve to advance the plot or worldbuilding of the dungeon. Do you know the story of how this villain ended up here? It may be fun to tell that story through area searches. Maybe the bandit captain moved into the area from Neverwinter. So they have a storage area in the dungeon with crates of wine from a neverwinter vineyard, and they have their old Neverwinter guard uniform boxed up. Odd finds so near the Moon sea. Unless you know that this guy used to be a guard in Neverwinter before he went criminal and left to improve his criminal standing. Finds in other areas could be sketches of Neverwinter landmarks. A letter from his old captain promising a promotion if he’d reconsider his resignation. Maybe this villain really likes cats, so there’s a cat room just totally decorated with cat stuff. The players might clue into a strategy in which they bribe him or distract him with a cat when they find him. Give them something to reward them for paying attention.
This is where I would google stuff and just use someone else's idea lol
Here is one idea I saw online:
A room that has a moose in it. Thats it. A Moose. genius, who even thinks of that?! (seriously though do it lol)
I check the moose for traps.
The moose snorts, and tries to kick you .... ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I'm with kcbcollier on this one.
No Dungeon exists in a vacuum:
In short, make up a little story about the Dungeon, understand the what, why, when, and how of the dungeon's evolution, and you'll have no problems filling in rooms.
It's a little trickier, because you didn't make the basic layout, but it can be done. You said "rooms", so I'm guessing this is a constructed place?
This might not be applicable in natural caves, although then you can still ask yourself: what kind of creatures would shelter here? How do they interact? What is their ecology? What events happened in this cave complex's history? That will get you similar results.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
If you aren't able to stock all the rooms up with goodies, traps, monsters, ect. ect., might be good to make a random 1d100 encounter table filled with stuff that's relevant to the dungeon's purpose, resources, and most importantly, vibe.
💖 I am SO tempted to do that!!!! The ppl I play with would like it once they got over the paranoia of checking for traps etc
(The moose)
It's worth noting that the DMG has a section on stocking a dungeon https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/appendix-a-random-dungeons#StockingaDungeon let alone doing random dungeon generation. Maybe take a look at that or at least the https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/appendix-a-random-dungeons#DungeonChamberContents section which gives you random tables on populating rooms with creatures, traps, and or hazards.